The United Kingdom Government is set to cut 10,000 civil service jobs in a bid to achieve a 15% reduction in operating costs, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves revealed ahead of Wednesday’s major public finance statement.
Reeves stated that the Labour government will maintain its commitment to increasing real-term spending each year of this parliament, but will prioritize funding allocations.
Departments are expected to achieve efficiency savings by leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence, she added.
“I’m confident we can reduce civil servant numbers by 10,000,” the chancellor told Sky News in a Sunday morning interview.
“During Covid there were big increases in the number of people working in the civil service; that was the right thing to do to respond to those challenges, but it’s not right that we just keep those numbers there forever.”
Reeves, addressing how technology could help downsize the civil service—whose numbers topped 540,000 last year—cited briefing roles as one area of potential.
She also noted that the UK’s tax authority is already using AI to tackle fraud.
She confirmed reports that Labour will mandate a 15% cut in civil service administrative budgets, aiming to save £2 billion ($2.6 billion) by 2030.
Reeves is set to deliver her spring statement on Wednesday, alongside revised economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The fiscal headroom she had in October has been depleted by weak economic growth and rising borrowing costs.
To rebuild it, Reeves is expected to cut planned government spending and welfare, while sticking to her commitment not to introduce additional tax hikes.
